"I write, not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." George MacDonald

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Month: July 2015

Stanley: I was more scared than hurt. I mean I landed pretty hard, but I thought for a minute there that I was gonna die.

Well, I looked around to see where I was and realized that I was stuck on a ledge!

I couldn’t climb back up, and I couldn’t climb down!

I was stuck on this ledge, and I didn’t know where anyone from my school was and they didn’t know where I was!

Mr. Mathisen: I’ll bet you were pretty scared Stanley. I would have been.

Stanley: Boy was I!! I was really scared there for awhile and then…

Mr. Mathisen: And then what?

Stanley: Well, I sang then I prayed for awhile. I asked Jesus to send someone to find me. I sang the song to myself again a couple of times, and I prayed again. I hollered help a couple of times too, but, mostly I prayed. And you know what happened then?

Mr. Mathisen: No, I don’t Stanley. What happened then?

Stanley: Well, after I prayed, I began to feel really calm and peaceful. It was like Jesus was telling me that He would answer my prayer. Just then, I heard a voice calling my name, and I looked up and there was Mr. Christos. He was kneeling at the top of the cliff and looking down at me. I couldn’t believe it. I had just prayed & sang, and there he was.

Mr. Mathisen: Jesus was really watching out for you wasn’t He?

Stanley: He sure was! Mr. Christos yelled down to me to ask if I was all right. I told him that I was, and he told me to not move and that he would be right back.

He went away for a couple of minutes and came back with a rope. He tied one end around a tree and the other around his waist. Then he slowly lowered himself down that cliff until he was beside me. He had me climb onto him in the front. I put my arms around his neck and hung on tight. Then he used his arms and legs and pulled us both back up that cliff. It was really slow, but I was never scared. I knew that Mr. Christos had left all the other kids and came looking for me and then he rescued me. I was so happy that I almost cried.

When we got to the top, we backed up against a tree and just sat up there at the top of the cliff for a few minutes while he got his breath back and I just sat real close to him. He risked his life to save me. He left all the others to come find me. Then he gave me a quick hug and told me to never, ever scare him like that again. I quietly said “OK”, and then we went to find the others.

He never got mad at me at all.

Mr. Mathisen: Wow! That was a great story. Thanks, Stanley.

So boys and girls, remember we were talking about just two of God’s promises. The first one is found in the book of Isaiah chapter 41 verse 13.

For I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you. (Isa 41:13)

Stanley: And that means God is right here, right now, ready to help us.

Mr. Mathisen; Yes, Stanley that’s exactly what it means. The other verse was

So David, wearing his normal shepherd clothes took his walking stick and stopped to pick up five small round smooth stones from the bed of the stream that ran through the valley.

He then walked out to the front of the army. Goliath laughed when he saw him for David was still very young. “Am I a dog, that you come out to me with sticks?” Goliath then cursed God again. And then he said, “Come on, I will feed you to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.” Then he laughed again loudly.

And David said to Goliath, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel on which you have put shame.

This day the Lord will give you up into my hands, and I will overcome you, and take your head off you; and I will give the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth today, so that all the earth may see that Israel has a God;

And all these people who are here today may see that the Lord does not give salvation by sword and spear: for the fight is the Lord’s, and he will give you up into our hands.

Now when Goliath made a move and came near to David, David quickly went at a run in the direction of the army, meeting Goliath face to face.

And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and sent it from his leather band straight at Goliath, and the stone went deep into his forehead, and he went down to the earth, falling on his face.

So you see God was with him. He gave David the courage to fight Goliath and beat him. God will always be with you, and He will always help you.

Mr. Mathisen: Now, what about your story Stanley?

Stanley: Remember the story about when I went to the beach with my class and fell over that cliff?

Mr. Mathisen: I sure do let’s tell that too OK?

Stanley: Well, sure. It was a really sunny day, and we headed down to the beach. Our teachers and some of the parents were all walking down the trail toward the beach, and I saw that my tennis shoe had come untied. So, I stopped to retie it.

By the time I finished tying my shoes and looked up, they were all out of sight around the bend and down the path toward the beach. I started to run after them when I saw a Bald Eagle! I had never seen one for real before, so I started to follow it. It was flying towards the water.

Mr. Mathisen: That’s right. You followed the eagle instead of your teacher?

Stanley: Well, I had never seen a live one before. I’ve only seen them on TV or pictures of them and I got really excited and kinda forgot what I was supposed to be doing. I just followed it into the woods. I almost tripped over some trees that had fallen over and stuff. I had a little trouble seeing it a couple of times, but I was watching it real close to make sure that I didn’t lose it. The next thing I knew, I was falling down the side of the cliff. I landed on a little ledge about half way down.

Stanley: Oh yes! How about David when he had to face the giant Goliath?

Mr. Mathisen: That is good, Stanley. Let’s see what was David doing before that?

Stanley: Wasn’t he a shepherd?

Mr. Mathisen: Yes, all of David’s older brothers were fighting in the army while David was back home taking care of the sheep.

Stanley: That must have been boring.

Mr. Mathisen: Not really, you see sometimes David had to fight off lions and…

Stanley: Lions and tigers and bears?

Mr. Mathisen: Almost, it was just lions and bears. You see, sometimes a lion would try to capture one of the sheep and David would have to go whack the lion and get the lamb back from him. Sometimes he had to kill the lion. Other times he had to fight off a hungry bear. But you see, lot’s of people would think about what mighty warriors they were if they could do that, but David knew that it was God that was helping him. He knew that God was giving him the courage and the strength to fight them off, and that is a pretty important thing to know.

His father asked him to go to the battlefield to take some food to his brothers and to see how they were doing.

As David arrives at the battle camp, the Israelites and Philistines are lined up on opposite sides of the valley hurling sticks and stones and insults at each other. On the Philistine side Goliath, a giant twelve feet tall, is lined up in the middle of their line. He is yelling something at the Israelites. “I have put the armies of Israel to shame this day. Send your champion out to fight me. If I win, you will become our slaves. If your champion wins, we will become your slaves.” Then all of the Philistines yelled insults at the Israelites. Goliath then said very loudly, “I think that you all are a bunch of cowards and your God is a fake!”

When David heard that, he became very angry. He knew that his God was not a fake. David had spent many hours in prayer while he was with the sheep. God had given him courage and strength to fight wild animals. God was not a fake.

David went immediately to where his brothers were to deliver the food. He could see that they were afraid of Goliath.

Goliath stepped out and yelled again, “I think that you all are a bunch of cowards, and your God is a fake!”

This made David even madder, and he asked “who is this Philistine, that he has put shame on the armies of the living God?”

David went to King Saul and asked permission to fight Goliath. King Saul gave David his own armor to wear in the battle against him. But, when David put it on, it was way too large and kept him from moving around, so he took it off. He said to the king, I am not used to fighting in all this armor. God will protect me as He always has.

So David, wearing his normal shepherd clothes took his walking stick and stopped to pick up five small round smooth stones from the bed of the stream that ran through the valley.

Stanley: Two hundred twenty-one, two hundred twenty-two, two hundred twenty-three…

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley?

Stanley: Two hundred twenty-four, two hundred twenty-five, two hundred twenty-six…

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley?

Stanley: Two hundred twenty-seven….

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, what are you doing? What are you counting?

Stanley: Two hundred twenty eight….huh? Oh, I’m counting the promises that God has for us in the Bible.

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, do you want me to just tell you how many there are?

Stanley: Two hundred twenty eight….huh? Do mean that you already know?

Mr. Mathisen: I know about how many there are. Would you like to know?

Stanley: Would I like to know? You bet! How many are there?

Mr. Mathisen: I looked it up, and there are more than three thousand promises that God makes to His people in the Bible. Isn’t that fantastic?

Stanley: Wow! And I was only up to two hundred twenty-eight! Can you tell us about them? I’m sure that the girls and boys would like to know too.

Mr. Mathisen: Sure, let’s start with two basic promises. The first one is found in the book of Isaiah chapter 41 verse 13.

For I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you. (Isa 41:13)

Stanley: Wow! Does that mean God is right here, right now, ready to help us?

Mr. Mathisen; Yes, Stanley that’s exactly what it means. There is another verse that talks about what Jesus said. It’s in a book called Hebrews chapter 13 verse 6. It says:

So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper so that I will have no fear.” (Heb 13:6a)

And in another verse Jesus says:

“I will never leave you or abandon you.” (Heb 13:5b)

Stanley: Wow! That does mean God is right here, right now, ready to help us!

Mr. Mathisen; You know, I know a couple of stories that talk about that. Would you like to hear them?

Stanley: You bet. I bet I know one too.

Mr. Mathisen: Would you like to tell your story first?

Stanley: No, I want to hear yours first.

Mr. Mathisen: Okay, remember the time when Gideon was asked by God to fight the Midianites, but God would only let him have 300 soldiers to fight 32,000 Midianites? They didn’t even have to fight. Gideon and his men startled the sleeping Midianites with horns and lamps and the Midianites beat themselves and then they ran away! How cool was that?

Mr. Mathisen: Boys and girls, this morning we are going to tell the story of when Jesus calls the the Apostle Peter. Who can tell me who Peter was?

Stanley: Ooh, Ooh, ooh…I know, I know!

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, do you really know who Peter was?

Stanley: Sure, sure, he was the cut off the guy’s ear in the garden when the soldiers were arresting Jesus.

Mr. Mathisen: Well, that is true but we are going to talk about another time before Peter was a follower of Jesus. Do you know what Peter did before he was an apostle?

Stanley: Umm…..was he a carpenter?

Mr. Mathisen: No…does anyone else know what Peter did before he was an apostle?

Stanley: Wait! Don’t I get another guess?

Mr. Mathisen: Okay, go ahead and try again.

Stanley: Ummm…was he a mailman?

Mr. Mathisen: No, Stanley he was not a mailman. Let me give you a hint.

Stanley: Ok, I like hints.

Mr. Mathisen: When today’s story starts, he is on the beach cleaning some fish nets.

Stanley: Ooh, Ooh, ooh…I know, I know!

Mr. Mathisen: Ok, what was he?

Stanley: He was a fisherman!

Mr. Mathisen: Very good Stanley. For today’s story let’s go for a walk on the beach and then maybe we’ll go for ride in Peter’s boat.

Stanley: Are we going to have another storm? I don’t like storms when I’m on a boat. I get sort of sick to my stomach.

Mr. Mathisen: Oh don’t worry about that today. There won’t be any storms in this story. So let’s pretend that we’re walking on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a bright, sunny day and we can see Peter and his friends with all their nets laid out on the beach so that they can dry them, clean them and fix any tears in them.

Stanley: Boy, I can sure smell that wonderful sea air. I can hear seagulls and look there’s a big crowd down there on the beach and it’s headed this way.

Mr. Mathisen: You’re right Stanley. All those people are listening to that man and he is headed this way.

Stanley: Wait a minute that man is walking backwards!

Mr. Mathisen: That’s right Stanley. Those people keep crowding in on him and he has to walk backwards to keep from getting trampled by them. Look! He’s turned around and is talking to Peter.

Stanley: What’s he saying; I can’t hear over the noise of the crowd?

Mr. Mathisen: I’m not sure but now he’s getting into one of those boats and he’s talking to that big man. Wait! That must be Peter. Let’s run over and listen.

Stanley: Um, OK. You run. I left my legs at home.

Mr. Mathisen: Oh, Stanley. (Make running sounds) Ok, here we are at the boat. You know I think that we can squeeze into the back of the boat and see and hear everything that goes on. In we go, let’s jump!

Stanley: Wait a minute! You landed on me!

Mr. Mathisen: I did not. Wait a minute! That man is Jesus. This is Peter’s boat and Jesus is asking Peter to push the boat out into the water so that He can continue to preach but not get trampled.

Stanley: You know, Peter didn’t look to happy about this to begin with, but he just looked at Jesus for a minute and his whole face changed. Now he’s happy to help. Wow! Talking with Jesus changed his mind!

Mr. Mathisen: You sure are right Stanley. Peter didn’t want to obey at first, but looking at Jesus and hearing Him ask changed the way that Peter was acting. Now he seems to be really happy to help! And now we can sit in the boat and listen to Jesus teach the people too. Right Stanley? Stanley? Stanley, what are you doing?

Stanley: Vroom! Vroom! Vrooooooom! Huh? Oh I was playing motor boat with my hand in the water.

Mr. Mathisen: Shhh! Jesus is done teaching the crowd now and He’s asking Peter to move the boat out into deeper waters. Listen to what he is saying.

Jesus: “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

Peter: “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if You say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, you are not going to drown and we are not all gonna die. Pay attention to what’s going on. Peter is calling to those friends of his with that other boat. They are coming to help us with this huge catch of fish.

Stanley: Maybe we can have fish and chips for lunch then.

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley! Pay attention this is important stuff going on here. We’re with Jesus and Peter. Look the other boat is here and the two boats are hauling the fish in.

Stanley: I’ve never seen so many fish in one place in my life. Uh oh! The boat is getting so full of fish that…that. We’re gonna sink! I’m gonna drown. We’re all gonna die!

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley! Will you stop that? Listen Peter is talking to Jesus. Now he’s gotten down on his knees right here in the boat.

Peter: Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around You.

Mr. Mathisen: Did you hear that Stanley? Listen! Jesus is answering him.

Jesus: Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!

Stanley: Look! We’re almost back to the shore. All those other fishermen are coming to help with all these fish!

Mr. Mathisen: We better get out of the boat and keep out of the way Stanley. Here we are, it’s much better up here on the beach a little ways.

Stanley: Can I keep this fish that got into my pocket? I bet my mom can cook it up really good!

Mr. Mathisen: No Stanley. It doesn’t belong to us. Let’s go back down to where they are spreading the fish out on the beach and put it in with the rest. Wait a minute, Peter and his friends are leaving all these fish and their boats and following Jesus.

Stanley: Wow! That’s right. Where are they going? Wait is that Jesus talking again?

Mr. Mathisen: Yes. I can just make it out He is saying. “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” Wow! It looks like choosing to obey Jesus really changed Peter’s life.

Stanley: It sure did. Look at all these fish! They are just walking away from them. I’ll bet they never did that before.

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, I think that Peter and his friends, James and John are going to find themselves doing a lot of things that they never did before, just because they decided to obey Jesus. Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things that may not make much sense, at first. But we need to obey Him anyway, because He is God and He knows what is best for us. You boys and girls need to do the same thing. Obey Jesus and obey your parents and teachers.

Mr. Mathisen: (Louder) Stanley, what do you think that all of that meant?

Stanley: WOW!! That was fantastic! I think that you just said that God created the Sun! WOW!! I never thought about that. I just thought that it was always there. You really did mean that He created EVERYTHING didn’t you?

Mr. Mathisen: Yes, I did. Everything pretty much includes, well…everything. And that includes the Sun, the Moon, the stars and…everything. God knew that we would need light to see by in the daytime and sunlight to keep us warm and to help things grow. He also knew that we would need nighttime to rest. Stanley, did you know that plants rest at night too?

Stanley: Oh come on, you’re pulling my leg. (Looks down and sees that he has no legs) Oh wait, I forgot that I don’t have any legs. But, you are kidding me, right?

Mr. Mathisen: No, Stanley I’m not. You see, God planned all of this to benefit us and He works it all together so that we can see that He is blessing us. Sometimes we just don’t pay attention very well. Even the part about the plants resting at night is true. It helps them to grow better so that they can look prettier or feed us better.

Stanley: Does that mean that people come next??? This is taking a really long time!

Mr. Mathisen: Stanley, how long would it take you to do this??

Stanley: What?

Mr. Mathisen: How long would it take you to do this??

Stanley: Uh….uh….uh…wait a minute! I couldn’t do ANY of this stuff. I’m just a kid!

Mr. Mathisen: That’s right, you couldn’t and neither could I or anybody else. These are things that only God can do. That is part of what we need to remember from this story. Now, let’s move on to the next section. Maybe we can go just a little faster for you. We only have a few more days to go…

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish and every kind of bird. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Let the fish multiply and fill the oceans. Let the birds increase and fill the earth.” 23 This all happened on the fifth day.

Now, Stanley, what do you think about this part. God created the fish and the birds and told them to multiply and fill up the oceans and the earth. What does that make you think of?

Stanley: Fish sticks and chicken nuggets!!! Can I have fries with that???

Mr. Mathisen; Stanley!

Stanley: I’m sorry, it’s getting close to lunch time, and I was feeling hungry.

Mr. Mathisen: Well, now that I think about it, Stanley, you are not too far off. Both fish and birds were given to us for food, so, this is another example of God providing for our needs as early as the creation.

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Author’s Note: This script ends here because that was all that was covered by the Sunday School lesson it was written to serve.